Among the greatest and undoubtedly most prolific of the Church fathers was Saint Augustine. Translator F. J. Sheed writes that "every person living in the Western world would be a different person if Augustine either had not been, or had been other than he was." Augustine wrote 117 books that touched on practically every central theme of Christian theology and practice. Augustine's writings are so numerous and comprehensive that it would be much easier to compile a list of what he didn't cover than it would be to catalogue all that he takes up in his major works, sermons, and vast correspondence.
Augustine was born on November 13, 354, in what is now Algeria. His father was a pagan who later converted to Christianity, but his mother, Monica, was a devout Christian from the start who prayed and labored tirelessly for her son's conversion. She taught Augustine the faith throughout his childhood, but his baptism was delayed until 387 due to a lengthy religious and philosophical pilgrimage, which he outlines in his most popular work, Confessions. Educated as a rhetorician in North Africa, Augustine eventually came under the influence of the Roman philosopher Cicero through which he embarked on an earnest quest for divine wisdom. Like many such quests, his search at first led him away from the Christian faith of his childhood.
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